Dechlorane (Dec) 602, Dechlorane (Dec) 603, Dechlorane (Dec) 604, and Dechlorane Plus (DP) are flame retardant substitutes for mirex. Dec 602, 603, and 604 were detected in sediment and fish from the Laurentian Great Lakes. Lake Ontario surface sediments had the highest concentrations of Dec 602 and 604 at 6.0 and 4.0 ng/g dry weight, respectively. Temporal analysis of a Lake Ontario sediment core indicates that Dec 602 and 604 trends are similar to DP peaking in the early 1980s. Lake trout and whitefish from Lake Ontario also had the highest concentrations of Dec 602 and 604 at 34 and 1.2 ng/g lipid. Concentrations of Dec 602 were higher than those of DP in all fish samples, indicating that Dec 602 is likely more bioavailable and/or more readily bioaccumulates than DP. Spatial trends for Dec 602 and 604 in sediment and fish indicate that manufacturing plants along the Niagara River upstream of Lake Ontario were important sources of Dec 602 and 604 to the Great Lakes, while Dec 603 in the Great Lakes is likely from atmospheric deposition. The findings of this first report of Dec 602, 603, and 604 in the Laurentian Great Lakes basin suggests further investigation of halogenated norbornene flame retardants in the environment is merited.
Benzothiazole, tri-n-butylphosphate tris(2-chloroethyl)phosphate, tris((β-chloro-propyDphosphate and two isomers of this last chemical were detected in all archived water extracts collected from permanent sampling stations located at Fort Erie, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Wolfe Island. The archived samples initially extracted using a Goulden large sample extractor (GLSE) after centrifuging, were analyzed using gas chromatography/atomic emission detection (GC-AED) for P-, S-, and N-containing compounds. All samples also contained atrazine and metolachlor whose concentrations had previously been determined using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The concentration values of atrazine in the 38 archived samples as determined by the AED method were similar to those determined by the GC/MS method. However, the concentrations of metolachlor in the 38 archived samples calculated from the GC/AED generally differed by a factor of 2 relative to concentrations determined for the extracts by GC/MS. The atrazine and metolachlor concentrations determined by GC/AED were in the range 12-141 ng/L compared to 10-89 ng/L determined using GC/MS. The trialkylphosphate concentrations were in the range 5-23 ng/L and the benzothiazole concentrations were in the range 1-10 ng/L. Other archived samples from the St. Lawrence River above and below Montréal also contained the above five trialkylphosphates and benzothiazole, as did fresh samples from the eastern and western basins of Lake Erie. Nonpolar fractions from silica gel cleanup of the St. Clair River sample extracts contained none of the compounds of interest, but the compounds were found in the methanol eluates of the cleanup column material. One sample collected from the middle of Lake Huron contained tris(2-chloroethyl)phosphate. Rain samples collected about Lake Ontario contained benzothiazole and the alkylphosphates.
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